...an award-nominated Irish blog on Irish history and Irish politics-from today and yesterday:all 32 Counties !Updated a number of times each week . (Mirror site here)

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"1169 And Counting is a wealth of information on our Republican past and present , and demonstrates how the Irish political landscape , like that of any nation, will never be a black and white issue..."

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Saturday, January 17, 2004

....... Daniel O' Connell's ' Catholic Association ' was controlled by polite gentlemen who were politely fobbed-off by the Brits ; the ' Young Ireland ' group , led by Thomas Davis and James Fintan Lalor were radicals who did not rule out physical force to remove the British . John Keegan Casey was drawn to them .......

He submitted material for publication to ' The Nation ' newspaper under the pseudonym ' LEO ' ; his poetry and other writings were published on a regular basis , and this brought him into contact with like-minded individuals . John Keegan Casey was in his late teens when , in the mid-1860's , he joined an Irish Republican organisation founded by James Stephens in 1858 - the ' Irish Republican Brotherhood ' , and worked full-time within that Movement , alongside the Fenians , in preparing for an armed rising in Ireland .

The Fenian / IRB Rising went ahead on 5th March 1867(having being postponed from its original date of 11th February 1867 due to the actions of an informer).......(MORE LATER).

WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork , in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

THE MOUTH OF THE GLEN .......

".......The IRA men had stopped the RIC patrol ; a fist-fight had started and one shot was fired , injuring one of the RIC men , whose cart had by now been pushed off the road ......."

" Johnny Lynch's opponent still clung to his rifle . He shouted for mercy , and said he was a married man with a wife and family depending on him ; yet he would not relinquish the rifle . Johnny , for a reasonable time , had taken him as easily as he possibly could . He had risked his life and liberty to spare him , even after hearing him boast of how the machine-gun had frightened the people at Coolea .

Now he had to treat him roughly , and when Johnny straightened himself up holding the captured rifle , the RIC man lay on the ground bruised and vanquished . " Where is the other rifle ? " someone asked . Jamie and Neilus had assumed that it had fallen on the road with the wounded RIC man . Actually it had remained on the seat of the car , and was now gone down the glen with it . Johnny and Liam climbed down . They found it undamaged . It had fallen out on the thick heather , early in the sidecar's wild career .

The booty was now checked and found correct . It comprised two magazine Lee-Metford carbines , two slings of .303 with fifty rounds in each , two belts with batons , two spiked helmets( for the overawing of simple people ) and two notebooks . "(MORE LATER).

DO AS I SAY ,NOT AS I DO .....

(From ' Magill ' magazine , December 1988 , page 62).

FIANNA FAIL AND EXTRADITION ----> (1 of 6.)

In 1975 and 1976 , as the largest 'opposition' party in Leinster House , FIANNA FAIL 'the republican party' was most vocally opposed to the very idea that an extradition treaty should be signed between this State and Westminster .

At the time , 'The Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act (1976)' was being discussed in Leinster House , and FIANNA FAIL(as 'the republican party' , don't-ya-know) was dead set against it . Or was it .......?

The then Leader of Fianna Fail , Jack Lynch , stated -- " I totally oppose this Bill . I believe this Bill , if enacted , would be politically disastrous in the sense that it would not only not help to bring peace to Northern Ireland(sic) or promote reconciliation in the North or between the North and South ; it would do the contrary . Secondly , this Bill would violate the Constitution of the Republic(sic) . "

GOOD MAN , JACK , ya boy ya ! A sound man from the Rebel County of Cork .

Friday, January 16, 2004

.......Born in 1846 at Mount Dalton in County Westmeath , John Keegan Casey was brought into the world in bad times ; the potato , the main food source , was unedible .......

He grew up witnessing poverty all around him . When he was twelve years young he heard his people discussing a new group that had been formed to drive the English out of the country and return all lands to their owners - the Irish Rebel leader , James Stephens , was in command of that group , the ' Irish Republican Brotherhood ' .

Even as a teenager , John Keegan Casey was angered by the mis-treatment of his people by the British , but confined himself to expressing his feelings on paper and submitting same for publication to ' The Nation ' newspaper , which was associated with ' The Young Ireland ' group , an organisation formed from within Daniel O' Connell's(constitutional) movement , the ' Catholic Association ' ; the ' Young Ireland ' group , however , did not agree that only methods favoured by the British should be used to oppose the British presence in Ireland .

It was to that physical force organisation , led by Thomas Davis and James Fintan Lalor , that young John Keegan Casey was drawn ....... (MORE LATER).

WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork , in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

THE MOUTH OF THE GLEN .......

".......The IRA Company , led by Johnny Lynch , stopped the armed RIC patrol to take their weapons ; in the fist-fight that developed , Johnny's mask was torn off his face and his nose was marked ......."

" The mark on his nose would persist . Johnny had little doubt about the outcome of the struggle ; it would be hard to meet his equal for physique and spirit . As the RIC man reached the ground , a revolver had cracked at the other side .

Dan and Liam had jumped from the heather simultaneously with the others . They had a longer distance to travel and had to scramble a little to get up on the road . They presented their revolvers , and their opponent reached for his rifle which lay on the seat beside him . As he grasped it , a bullet scarred his neck deeply - he fell from his seat and lay bleeding on the road .

Jamie and Neilus worked quickly , too quickly , as it transpired afterwards . Cutting away the horse from the side car , they caught the shafts and , driving the car over a bank , released it . When it came to rest at the foot of the precipice , it was a sorry sight . "(MORE LATER).

(28)... In 1987 , what was later described as " a serious incident " took place ; whatever it was that happened was not reported to the Health Board until three months afterwards . It was then discovered that at least one of the workers who was present when the " serious incident " occured was unable to walk through a 'body monitor' (ie- an electronic bleeper/tester) , for six months , without setting it off !

(29)... The Windscale/Sellafield record for leaks - both accidental and deliberate - is by far the worst of any nuclear installation anywhere in the world .

[30]... Even if the Plant were to close tomorrow , the radioactive waste from its notorious pipeline will continue to pollute the coastline and contaminate fish-life for the next one-hundred-thousand years !

That's the Brits for ya - determined to leave their mark on the planet.......

In this State at the moment , the politicians are everywhere voicing their so-called " concern " over the health of the population in regards to smoking cigarettes in pubs , restaurants , hotels etc . Yet they ignore the above threat.......

Thursday, January 15, 2004

.......Born at a time when the main staple of the people , the potato , was of no use due to what was then described as " cholera " , John Keegan Casey was only a 'babe-in-arms' when things began to get worse .......

The potato blight , now known to be ' Phytophthora Infestans ', was carried to other potato plants by wind , rain and insects , and rendered the potato unedible .

Many tried to carry-on as normal , by simply boiling the foodstuff and hoping all would be well ( in most of the country at that time , up to nine-tenths of the population depended on the potato for survival)-- however , the foul stench from boiling the rotten vegetable was impossible to bear and resulted in the house being uninhabitable for man or beast .

It was into the above turmoil that a child was born in County Westmeath in 1846 , at Mount Dalton ; ....... (MORE LATER).

WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork , in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

THE MOUTH OF THE GLEN .......

"....... Johnny Lynch , carrying a shotgun and with his face blackened , jumped out in front of the RIC wagon ; he looked menacing ......."

" The RIC driver thought so anyway , for he left the box-seat with so much precipitation and maintained such an acceleration , that the onlookers thought he would leave the ground and fly . He did leave the ground , too , for meeting the wall of the glen , he dived over it and was lost to sight .

Johnny paid scant attention to the vanishing driver . He concentrated on the policeman on his side of the car . He saw him snatch , with finger and thumb , at the magazine cut-off . Then Johnny knew that the breech wanted a cartridge . Swiftly laying his gun on the ground , he reached upwards and , grasping his opponents tunic , dragged him off his seat .

The RIC man reached the ground on the flat of his back , still clutching his rifle with both hands . Johnny now transferred both hands to the rifle , and a struggle for possession started . As he had reached upwards for a hold on the tunic , the RIC man snatched at his mask . He had torn it off , and had brought a bit of skin from Johnny's nose as well .

(25)... In 1985 , fires at the Windscale/Sellafield Plant released plutonium into the main processing building . The incident was not admitted to by management until 1988 .

(26)... What the suits at the Plant refer too as " medium-level waste " is kept in the form of radioactive sludge in specially-built silos . The other form of nuclear waste -- that which is described as "high-level"-- is causing problems because , as reported in the article - " Nobody has the least idea what to do with it " in the long term !

(27)... The liquid run-off from the above-mentioned sludge , together with contaminated cooling-pond water and other such liquids , form what is described as " low-level waste " that is then pumped into the Irish Sea .

Ah , sure is'nt it only aul low-level stuff ; extra sun-block and a slightly hotter shower at the end of the day and sure ya'll be grand altogether .......

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

" The growth of the potato plant progresses as favourably as the most sanguine farmer could wish . "

-- ' The Freemans Journal ' newspaper , 20th August , 1845 .

" We regret to have to state that we have had communications from more than one well-informed correspondent announcing the fact of what is called 'cholera' in potatoes in Ireland , especially in the North . In one instance the party had been digging potatoes - the finest he had ever seen - from a particular field , and a particular ridge of that field up to Monday last ; and on digging in the same ridge on Tuesday he found the tubers all blasted , and unfit for the use of man or beast . "

-- ' The Freemans Journal ' newspaper , 11th September , 1845 .

The " cholera " was , in fact , a killer fungus , called ' phytophthora infestans '- what chance for a child born into the above circumstances .......? (MORE LATER).

WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork , in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

THE MOUTH OF THE GLEN .......

".......one of the seven IRA Volunteers was up on high , watching . The other six men were concealed in the undergrowth , ready to do the job . They had not long to wait ......."

" Their plan was complete . Johnny Lynch was to step out on the road and present his shotgun . Jamie and Neilus were to seize the horse , cut him away from the car , and let him go his own way . They were then to take the sidecar and throw it over into the glen . This would help to discourage people from giving lifts to the RIC .

They saw the grey horse a long way off . He came slowly up the straight from Renanirree . He disappeared around the first bend . He would not reappear until within a few yards of them . They could hear his hoofbeats and the echo of his hoofbeats . Now they could hear voices . Presently they could make out a few words - " machine-gun " was one . It was repeated , and then Johnny's ear caught one complete sentence .

He knew the RIC voice that uttered it - he was a bad lad , and what he said confirmed that fact : " They(the people) did not run until they saw the machine-gun . " Just then Johnny stepped out on the road , his shotgun levelled . With his towering figure and masked and blackened visage , he must have appeared a most menacing apparition ....... "(MORE LATER).

(22)... In 1983 , a decision was taken by management at Windscale/Sellafield to " flush " one of their holding tanks , which was " choked " with highly-radioactive sludge ; the contents of the tank were then emptied into the Irish Sea , but all did not go as planned , and local beaches were contaminated . The nuclear filth which ended up on local beaches was strong enough to cause radiation burns but it took the suits at the Plant four days to issue a " Stay Away " warning !

(23)... Today (ie 1988) Windscale/Sellafield is still no longer just a power station - it is a major nuclear reprocessing plant that takes waste from all over the world . A staggering one-thousand tons of spent nuclear fuel arrives there every week .

(24)... There are three categories of nuclear waste from the process carried out at Windscale/Sellafield . The most dangerous of the high-level radioactive waste is kept in huge vats that must be surrounded by nine feet of concrete to stop the enclosed intense radiation from killing people working nearby !

...nine feet of concrete between you and six feet of clay - bad odds , I'd say .......

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

.......at sixty years of age in 1949 , Dorothy Macardle was a well-known writer and Irish Republican ; she had recorded , in print , details of her life , her involvement with the Republican Movement and the stories of some of those she met along the way .......

At sixty-nine years of age , in 1958 , Dorothy Macardle died in Drogheda in County Louth , on 23rd December .

The words that Dorothy Macardle spoke in Dublin , in May 1924 , when asked about her then-recently published book ' The Tragedies Of Kerry ' , summarise where the woman herself was coming from --

--" Those who , sensitive to the sufferings of others yet tenacious of their own peace of mind , love to solace themselves with incredulity , will put down this book half read . To those who have any eagerness to understand that time in Ireland it is offered as an infinitesimal fragment of the truth . "

When Dorothy Macardle wrote that book , and the above words , the British were claiming jurisdiction over the six north-eastern counties of Ireland ; today , eighty years later , the British continue to claim jurisdiction over the same six north-eastern counties . The issue has not been resolved . The struggle continues .....

".......the seven IRA men were lying in wait to ambush an RIC patrol ; one of the Volunteers was up high , scouting , the other six had two revolvers and one shotgun between them . They were helped by the lay-out of the area ......."

" ' Beal a' Ghleanna ' was four hundred yards distant from Johnny Lynch's house . There were perpendicular rocks on the northern side , and on the southern side the glen fell steeply away from the road , which here and there had been built up from a depth of fifty feet below .

At one point a little plateau , unprotected by a wall and lower than the road level , jutted out over the glen . Here were stationed Dan MacSweeney , Liam Twomey and Neilus Reilly , lying concealed amongst the heather . The job of Dan and Liam was to deal with the policemen facing south , peacefully if possible.

Directly across the road from them and behind a pillar of rock , Johnny Lynch , Tadhg and Jamie waited . They had not long to wait ........"(MORE LATER).

(19)... Management at Windscale/Sellafield , and the 'spin-doctors' on their payroll , were always quick to assure the media that both local and national Health Authorities would be informed immediately should a dangerous incident occur . However , in one such admitted incident , in 1981 , a cloud of highly-dangerous iodine gas was released into the air . The Health Authorities were not notified until four days after it happened !

(20)... The site where the Plant is located - a former British Army munitions factory - was chosen because waste products could be dumped into the Irish Sea.

(21)... Shortly after the pipeline to discharge nuclear filth into the Irish Sea was built , a spokesperson for the Plant(not named in newspaper article) stated : " The intention has been to discharge fairy substantial amounts of radioactivity as part of an organised and deliberate scientific experiment . The aims of the experiment would have been defeated if the level of radioactivity discharged had been kept to a minimum . "

Monday, January 12, 2004

....... Dorothy Macardle joined Fianna Fail in 1926 , but continued with her work for the Republican Movement ; she was involved with the 'Women Prisoners Defence League' and the 'Irish Women Workers Union' and was not afraid to challenge the political establishment .......

She was a particularly sore thorn in the side of the then Free State 'Department of Industry and Commerce' , which was responsible for the ' Conditions of Employment Bill 1935 ' , parts of which prohibited the employment of women in industry and actually deemed it illegal for an employer to employ more women than men !

In 1937 , she wrote another historical book , - ' The Irish Republic : A Documented Chronicle of the Anglo-Irish Conflict and the Partitioning of Ireland '(published by Gollancz , London) , which has since been described ( by author Michael Farrell ) as " the most detailed history of the period 1916-1923 .....'. In 1949 , at the age of sixty , Dorothy Macardle wrote a book on the subject of refugee children , entitled - ' Children of Europe' ' and , in a writing career which lasted for thirty-four years , wrote other well-known , and well-received , books and plays --

".... Johnny Lynch , the Captain of 'D Company' , and six other IRA men were preparing to ambush an RIC patrol and relieve them of their weapons ......."

" There were now more men than were necessary and Johnny suggested that three of the men should make an effort to intercept the two RIC men from Inchigeela Barracks , who would probably return by Derrinaonig . The others opposed this , as there was the possibility that the police from Inchigeela might also select the glen as their homeward route . Johnny was over-ruled . It was a pity .

At that early period it was imperative that , having decided to do a job of this kind , the utmost precautions should be taken to conceal the identities of the participants . British 'law' still functioned perfectly , nay , it was now double-edged . The RIC were stil the eyes of the enemy . Johnny Lynch therefore produced some burnt corks , and each man blackened his face . Each man also wore a mask , made from a handkerchief , with holes for his eyes . Two of the men carried small .38 revolvers and Johnny carried his shotgun , with two cartridges loaded and primed by himself . It was impossible to buy cartridges at the time ."(MORE LATER).

(16)... In 1976 , it was admitted that radioactive water had been leaking from a concrete silo , and draining into the ground , since 1972 : management at the plant were apparently aware of the leak but did'nt know what to do about it . So they done nothing ! Six weeks after the leak became public , the suits at the plant notified Westminster that it had happened ......

(17)... Around the Windscale/Sellafield area , the number of children who have suffered leukaemia is ten times the expected rate .

(18)... " Windscale " , as it was called at first , was never just a nuclear power-station; it was set up forty years ago (ie 1948) to provide plutonium to give Britain its own atomic bomb !

Sunday, January 11, 2004

.......in December 1923 , Dorothy Macardle was one of the thousands of Irish Republican Prisoners released from Free State jails ; she began writing her first book about that time , entitled - ' The Tragedies of Kerry '.......

Her book was a best-seller in its day and , in this , the 21st Century , it is still required reading for Irish Republicans of all ages . It will leave the reader with an angry tear in the eye - " a tense , restrained and true story of how men and women , boys and girls , fought for the freedom and honour of Ireland ; and of how , despite almost incredible torture and brutality , they refused to admit defeat . A tale of sorrow and glory . "

Two years after her book was published , Dorothy Macardle joined the then newly-formed Fianna Fail party (1926) ; perhaps in the hope that De Valeras 'new departure' could prevent others going through the nightmare that she had lived and wrote about , or maybe she was keeping her friends close and her enemies closer ..... ; if it was the former , she must have recognised the futiliity of believing that the self-servers in Fianna Fail would 'finish the job' re the six occupied counties - she remained active in the Republican Movement and actively supported her colleagues in the ' Women Prisoners Defence League ' in holding pickets and protests to highlight the rough conditions in which Republican prisoners were held in Free State jails .

Dorothy Macardle was to the fore in the ' Irish Women Workers Union ' and used any platform she could to challenge the establishment ....... (MORE LATER).

WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork , in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

THE MOUTH OF THE GLEN .......

".......the British military and 'police' were at the festivities in and around Coolea , keeping an eye on the people ; IRA Volunteers were keeping an eye on them......."

" I was watching a young Scotsman in kilts who stood on a height playing the war pipes . His name was Ian MacKenzie Kennedy . He was staying at Tuirin Dubh , the home of Liam and Tadhg Twomey , and , years later , during the Civil War , gave his life for the Irish Republic . As I watched him , my brother Pat came to me and asked me to give a revolver to Dan MacSweeney .

He told me that Dan , Jamie Moynihan and Neilus Reilly were going to Beal a'Ghleanna with Tadhg Twomey . I volunteered to go too , but he answered that it was full-grown strong men who were wanted there , as they were to grapple with the police . I was disappointed but had to put up with it . There were six men assembled at Johnny's house in good time : three were from the Coolea and Ballyvourney side , north of the road , and three from the Ballingeary side , south of the road .

A seventh man , Jer Shea , from the village of Ballingeary , had already been sent to the highest part of the hill to watch for the coming of the police......."(MORE LATER).

(13)... In 1977 it emerged for the first time that , in the previous 26 years there had been 177 " incidents " at the plant . Details were not provided .....

(14)... (Un-named) experts stated their concerns that the small but measurable dose of radiation which leak's from Windscale/Sellafield on a regular basis will result in small but permanent changes to the British genetic pool .

(15)... Distance is no barrier . Contamination from Windscale/Sellafield has been detected as far away as Sweden , Iceland and Greenland . And people in the remote Hebrides - directly in the path of the Windscale/Sellafield waste stream - have eight times as much radioactivity than people in England .

So.... - if you go to Sweden , Iceland , Greenland or The Hebrides and catch the 'flu .......

....half-way there ----> 15 more of the above type of facts-and-figures to follow .....